John Higgins, conscious that the next two or three years could determine his place in snooker's pantheon, tonight converted his 11–5 first-day lead over Shaun Murphy into the 18–9 win which gave him his third world title. Apart from Higgins, only Mark Williams (twice), Ronnie O'Sullivan (three times), Steve Davis (six) and Stephen Hendry (seven) have lifted aloft the 82-year-old trophy more than once on the game's most famous stage.

"I am over the moon," said Higgins. "I don't know what to say. It's brilliant. To be classed with someone like Ronnie [O'Sullivan], it's an unbelievable honour.

"It's great to elevate yourself just a little touch to be up there with the great champions. I won it in '98 and it's amazing to win it now twice in three years. The second session made the difference.

"Shaun missed a couple that he wouldn't normally and I managed to get a gap between us."

Murphy agreed: "The second session was where it went wrong for me but John's tactical game was awesome. His tactical game is the best I've ever seen."

Murphy fought an uphill battle manfully. Perhaps his emotional energy had been drained by the victories over Hendry (13–11) and in the semi-final over the Australian Neil Robertson (17–14).

After both semi-finals had featured stirring if ultimately unsuccessful recoveries the final provided a tame conclusion to a 17-day championship which produced some dramatic finishes, such as Hendry's ninth maximum break in competition and a record 83 centuries.

The final lacked drama because the key passage of the contest, the Scot's progress from 5–5 to 12–5, embracing six frames last night and the first this afternoon, came early. As Murphy only twice won consecutive frames there­after any incipient recovery was invariably strangled almost at birth.

Higgins said fear as well as ambition have motivated him this season: "There were young players coming through and I was falling down the rankings [which are assessed over two seasons' performances]. I was 14th on the provisional list at the start of the season and when you see players like Mark Williams and Ken Doherty dropping out of the top 16 you realise you've no divine right to be there."

As he resumed today with his six-frame lead, Higgins drew on his experience of the 2007 final two years ago when he started the second day 12–4 up on Mark Selby. Then, subconsciously assuming victory while fully realising it was not mathematically assured, Higgins did not switch his concentration on full beam and with Selby's challenge gathering momentum the gap was reduced to 12–10 by the end of a truncated afternoon session.

Murphy's cause here cannot have been helped by being confronted by tabloid reporters on Friday seeking a reaction to the "kiss and tell" story published on Sunday. Higgins, meanwhile, maintained a formidable consistency. When the choice of shot is marginal his calculation of risk, difficulty, potential gain and alternatives is unfailingly astute.

While some thought that O'Sullivan's early exit made this year's Crucible show Hamlet without the Prince, the defending champion's departure let in younger talents to make a splash with the public.

Mark Allen, 23, who beat O'Sullivan and went on to press Higgins from 14–4 down to 17–13 in their semi-final, cheerfully described his youthful self as "like Alex Higgins without the drink" but possesses a game reminiscent of a younger Jimmy White.

The concluding evening session had the curious feel of a lap of honour before the race was over as Higgins added two of its three frames to secure the £250,000 first prize. Murphy took £125,000 as runner-up and ended the season third in the world rankings with Higgins fourth, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire occupying the top two places.